Ankara Complains about Medzamor Power Plant to EU

[struggle4progress]

By Foreign News Services
Published: Saturday 26, 2005
zaman.com

The Medzamor Nuclear power plant located 16 kilometers from the Turkish-Armenian border is remarked to pose more of a threat to Turkey.

Watching the developments closely, Ankara has concerns about a possible Chernobyl like disaster at any time. The subject has also been brought to the attention of the European Union (EU).

The "Armenia-1" and "Armeni-2" units in Medzamor, one of the five most dangerous plants in the world, are reportedly having technical problems. After these occurrences Ankara forwarded the matter to EU and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Following that, the EU once more called on Armenia to "shut down" the plant as it had in the past. Armenia was not willing to comply with the shut down request, as the plant provides 30 percent of the countries total energy requirements. The Armenian capital Yerevan conveyed to Brussels that it would run the station till 2016. Since the problem could not be settled, the matter was then forwarded to the IAEA. The Medzamor plant is built on the Eastern Anatolia Fault Line. The IAEA has also decided to investigate this aspect of the situation. The activities of the plant, which were seen as a" potential threat" following the earthquake in Armenian's Spitak region, have ceased. However, Armenia had resumed activities in 1995 reasoning the energy crises following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Armenia had shut down the Medzamor plant for four months last year due to a high frequency current problem in the electric transporting line.

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=16945